Maris at 15 months

There are many things that I want to record about Maris right now. I don't want to forget them!  I feel like life is flying by and I only have time to do quick facebook posts.  But I don't want to list all of Maris' accomplishments on Facebook, I feel like I already brag too much about myself and my children, husband, and family.  I honestly feel like Maris is the most adorable, talented and brilliant 15-month-old in the world!!  But I can't say that in a public setting.  This blog however, is mostly just for me to enjoy creating and my kids to have a record of their lives (yes I print a book every year and copy and paste to Word and save all the posts on our external hard drive), and is read by a handful of people at most.  So no one reading this will mind hearing all the cute and amazing things Maris has been doing.
Physically:  She is full-on running.  Trying to keep up with everyone!  She ran straight into the wall earlier today because she had gotten going too fast and couldn't stop herself, hilarious! (she wasn't hurt!) She is such a fun dancer, she has the cutest shoulder-shake, especially in the car.  She eats really well with a fork and is trying to learn to use a spoon.  She is transitioning from two naps to one (ROUGH), and I can't wait until she will nap at the same time as Owen's nap/quiet time, because right now she sleeps from like 11-1, then he does from 2-4, then she takes a quick nap from like 4:30-5:30.  It would be super cool to have her down at the same time as Owen!!  Anyway she has started to be an early riser :(  I've been in denial for a while but she's been waking up pretty consistently around 6:45. Sad for me.  I like to get up before my kids and get some stuff done, and the other kids don't wake up until 7:30.  So that extra 45 minutes was so precious... too bad.  Whitney did that for a while but then started sleeping later when she was around 2 1/2.  So we can hope. :)  But at least she does go down for bed and naps SUPER easily, can't complain there.
She goes down stairs really well and wants to walk up them holding onto the wall.  She loves to CLOSE things and wants to play with any kind of switch or button.  She turns pages of books really well and hasn't destroyed many pages yet. :)  She FINALLY got her 5th and 6th teeth last week!!  Keep them coming girl.  Maris LOVES to play with balls!!  She dribbled a ball around for like 15 minutes at Whitney's soccer game last night, and one time when Eric's mom(Mary and Brad and Kurtis came!) asked her if she wanted to go get the ball she turned and ran right onto the field, like she was going to go into the game and play!  Hilarious.  She loves to throw balls too.  And play chase with Eric or any of her siblings.  It is so funny, she will run after them screaming and laughing FOREVER, they usually end up stopping when THEY get tired, not her!
Communication:  She learns new words every day, it is so fun!!  In the last couple of weeks a few fun ones have been "gen" for again (used frequently when roughhousing with Eric!) "hep" - I'm so glad she's picking this one up for "help", so I can get her to say it instead of whining when she needs something!  She's been saying the kids' names for about 3-4 weeks now, and they LOVE it of course. "Kake-n" or "Kakey" for Katelyn, "wee-ee" or "winnie" for Whitney, and O-wah for Owen. She used to say "memememe" for herself, but hasn't been doing it lately. She is starting to say please! And one of my favorites was last week one day I picked the girls up from school and I asked "How was your day today?" and this little voice pops up "ged" for good, we all busted up laughing!  It was so cute and funny that she knew what to say; apparently I always ask that question?  She tries to do the old Batman theme song- she'll hum a little like she's trying to do the "dunna-nunna-nunna-nunna" and then say Bat-ba, batba, batba in a sing-song-y voice, so awesome!  Also lately she'll put her hands up for a touchdown and she can say football "but-bah".  I guess that's what you get when you get woken up more than once from mom and dad screaming at amazing game-winning touchdown passes!  It's a great time to be a cougar! At least it has been so far this season haha.  Let's see, what else can she say, oh yeah she can say her version of Jesus and Amen, and she folds her arms for prayers it is SO ADORABLE.  And at least 6 weeks ago this happened: we were reading scriptures and she was freaking out about something, getting in my face and I couldn't figure out what was going on.  She especially got mad when I helped Owen read (said each phrase for him to repeat).  So I said "Maris do you want a turn?" and looked right at her and said a couple of words and she calmed right down and repeated something back to me in baby language!  I said a few more and she said something back, all the way through the verse, and a few times she even copied my sounds a little, we all just laughed in amazement and then she sat quietly through the rest of scripture reading!  Eric was like " I can't believe she just wanted her own turn reading!"So now she always gets her own turn. So cute and funny, that girl.  Other words she says a lot are: SHOES, oh my the girl loves shoes.  Several times a day she goes into her room and runs out carrying a pair of shoes saying urgently "Shz, shz!" Often she is already wearing a pair and just wants to change!  Lately she has been trying to put them on herself, which obviously does not go well.  Oh and the last couple of days she has requested to pick her own outfits.  Like pushed away my hand saying "n-n-n" and picked something else from the drawer and handed it to me!  Really??Let's hope that doesn't last yet!!  She says Juice, milk, wa-wa, cup"cu-p" and raises her hand and says "duh!" when she's done eating.  She says "wawawawa" in a growly voice for watermelon for some reason!  She says diaper "d-puh" and poop haha. And we're pretty sure she has said her version of Kurtis and Jonathan. :)  She says run and GO and car and several animal noises.  She LOVES to see dogs but if they get too close she's started to wave and say "bye!" like she wants them to go away, so funny.  She can say blanket.  and book.  and treat.  All very important words.
I love that she gives hugs and kisses to her brothers and sisters and me and Eric.  She idolizes Owen, and he continues to be so sweet to her, thank goodness.  She is pretty obedient, and isn't too picky of an eater.  She can point to many body parts and say some of them.  She loves to brush hair, although none of us want her to brush it for long, it hurts!
Well, it's getting late and there's more I could say but at least this is something, it feels good to have it recorded.  I love my baby girl SO MUCH and it brings me so much joy to see her grow and develop.  I pray every day that I can be the best Mom I can to my kids, and that God will make up for
 the things I cannot do on my own.  I know He will.  I better say that I love my sweet Whitney, sweet Owen, and sweet Katelyn too, they are my life! What me and Eric work and live for every day. :)

a few pics I haven't already posted: 

she's not all smiles, but that's okay!

 she doesn't do the nose crinkle as much but I still love it!

 another cute face.

 tired of mom taking selfies...

 We all love our Maris!!

Karlissa Forever!!

Off to our second Hansen wedding of the summer!!  It was funny so many parts of the wedding were dejavu-- except it was like 30 degrees hotter haha.

The kids did great in the car, thankfully.

We went to the Farm to see Dad first thing. 



The day before the wedding was spent setting up at the church, then SWIMMING (which I didn't get any pictures of but we had so much fun swimming at my parents' neighbors' house twice!  The kids especially liked the "everyone do a cannonball at the exact same time" game) and then we had a pizza party at the church!(and spent a while washing and separating grapes-- apparently this went on for like 4 hours late that night as well!)



Then Melissa read the kids a sweet story "My Wedding Day" that made us all cry.  She was doing it!  She made it to the goal we all reach and struggle for!



Then we got to do our Family Sing for Melissa.  It was really cool, we had just started (we were on a tight schedule because Melissa was going to the temple with Karl and their parents in a little while) and I was concerned that Dad wasn't there yet. I was thinking "how sad that he's missing this!!" But then a couple of lines into the first song, he came hurrying in and we were all like "it's Dad!!" It was so joyful.  I sat on the floor by Jenae so I could look at everyone. Whitney told me later that she felt the Spirit 2 times that day- when Melissa read the story and when we sang. That's right girl!

Sadly Katelyn was in a bad mood and sat in the corner.  So Eric sat over there and kept scooting closer until he was by her. :)

Group hug of Melissa before she left-- the next time I would see her would be in the temple the next day!  Notice katelyn got over her bad mood enough to be right there in the middle hugging Melissa. My kids adore her. :)

Then it was wedding day!!  We got ready at the hotel and went to join everyone at the temple!

We had time to try and take a couple of pictures, and it was fun to greet all the aunts and uncles and friends who had come for the wedding!

Then we went in and it was so wonderful.  I loved watching Melissa and Karl experience the beauty and simplicity of the sealing ordinance.  But probably my favorite part was watching Karl's mom.  She is deaf, and so they had an ASL interpreter there for her, which was SO cool.  But also she was just GLOWING with happiness to be in the temple (she had worked hard this summer to get her temple recommend so she could be there!) with her amazing son who she adores.  She is SUCH a sweet, loving lady who has been through a lot of hard times.  Watching her watch Karl and Melissa was so touching.  Also it was cute to see Derek and Raycelan witnessing a sealing besides their own, they are too cute.  And Melissa and Karl... I love that they were both so ready for this.  Everything in their lives had led them to this point.  They are different from each other in many ways, but they are SO united in their love for the Lord and desire to be obedient and righteous...I can see why they were attracted to each other, because they are both so GOOD and their goodness radiates from them.  I am so happy for Melissa and Karl!

After they were sealed, Mom asked us to wait by the recommend desk, because Jenae wanted to come in and see Melissa and hug her before she came out, since she was the only one who couldn't come in for the wedding, poor girl.  So we siblings stayed and got to talk for a minute, it was SO cool and a little weird to be without any of our spouses or kids!  I really do have the coolest brothers and sisters on earth. :)  Then Jenae came in with her limited use recommend and we stood by the baptistry doors (as far in as she could come!) and soon Melissa and Mom and Dad came out to us and suddenly we were in a family huddle, all crying, just looking around at each other's faces, and Mom said "no empty seats" and we all nodded, this was heaven, this is what we all want!  To all be together, worthy and purified by fire and glowing with the power of our forever family, it was a sacred moment that we didn't want to end.  It is amazing that we all grew up together kneeling for family prayer and fighting and eating around the dinner table and laughing and working and struggling.  It is amazing what we have become.  It was so precious to have that minute together, I'm so glad Mom had us stay.  And I'm so grateful we are all worthy to be there.  Not perfect, but on the path!!  It was the best part of the whole trip for me.

While we siblings were still inside, the spouses went out to get the kids and Eric got some cute pictures of them hanging out together on the temple steps.

Maris and Ryder!

  

My Katie!

Lydia.  This girl is so good at taking pictures!!  If she sees a camera she automatically smiles!

Then Seth and the mighty Whitney-Caleb duo joined them...

And Natalie, Owen and Jenna, 

And Eric almost got a picture of Evelyn and Owen.

Maris being clingy.  Sometimes it is pretty dang cute!

And they came out!  Mr. and Mrs. Horlacher. Yay!

Melissa greeted all the nieces and nephews, Kate is so tall!

And then we moved over to the side to take some pictures. The kids obviously started climbing things,

and Lydia smiled for my camera!

So after Derek's wedding I kicked myself for not getting a picture of all the kids with BOTH sets of their great-grandparents. A priceless opportunity lost!  Luckily I got another chance, thanks Melissa. :)  I knew I wanted to do it sometime, so while we were waiting for a minute I seized the opportunity and enlisted everyone's help to make it happen.  Whitney only wanted to do it if she could sit by "Mae", she has felt such a connection to my Grandma who shares her middle name.  It's so sweet.

So here they are, Great Grandmom and Grandad Mickey and Janice Wallwork and Great Grandma and Grandpa Fred and Dorsmae Hansen with the great-grandchildren they share. Of course there has to be a couple of kids crying, right??

Then my Mom and Dad decided to get their picture right then too.  So here you have Whitney, Ryder, Owen, Katelyn holding Maris, Caleb and Jenna in the back, Dad holding Hazel, Mom holding Claire, Lydia in front of Natalie, and Evelyn.  Oh and poor Seth crying in front!  Next picture they put him in the back so he couldn't escape.

Hilarious, Eric noticed Melissa standing right behind him, so he had to take a sneaky celebrity selfie with the bride. lol.

Getting kissed by the bride, so cute.

Owen and Ryder playing this funny game, silly boys. Oh if only Owen had a brother, this is what it would be like!

Owen is always trying to help Maris :)

Me and my big girl Kate.

The core fam!

Love these guys!  Even with the weird lighting and me being the SHORT sister!

:) :) :) 

The whole family, all 29 Hansens!!

Melissa with all of her nieces!! so adorable. They look like angels.

another candid cute one.

Family pic, thanks for the classy wedding colors Melissa!  They turned out so beautiful.

Me and my golden baby.

We finished pictures and left, whew!  Time for the next part.  

First we had a little birthday party for Evelyn, who would turn 2 a few days later. She is SO cute!

And go Christine, pulling it off with a 5-week-old baby!

Then after some prep work we had the wedding luncheon.  It was tasty and fun, I love hearing stories about the bride and groom!

During the stories I caught this on camera. BFFs.

The afternoon was kind of long and hot- I stayed and tried to help while Eric took Owen back to the hotel for a nap.  I got to chat with Karl's family a little, I wish I would have talked to Grandma and Grandpa more, and it was fun that whole day to get to know Melissa's bridesmaids Mallorie and Jaylene.  The best part of my afternoon though was when me and Jenae got to go pick up flowers, and then Mom had forgot to bring sandwich stuff for dinner so me and Jenae hurried to the house to pick it up.  It was fun because we got to talk the whole time about her boyfriend Joseph and starting college and it was really great!  I love that girl.

The reception was super fun, it all turned out gorgeous and we had a great time dancing and eating delicious grapes and cookies.  

matchy-matchy

See what I mean?  It was magical.  Way to go Melissa on the design.

Donny and his adorable new baby girl Claire!  She has the most amazing hair ever!

Maris loves Uncle Jonathan!

cake cutting

and a super blurry picture of them running to their car while we threw rice at them as Melissa wanted!  I was sad I didn't take a picture with Melissa the whole day!  Or Melissa and Karl, I have like no pictures of him!  Oh well, she was gorgeous and radiant and I love her!

The next day we went to church long enough to see Donny bless Claire and take the Sacrament, and then we left, sad!  But we had to get home for the first day of school the next day. :)  Also Karl and Melissa went to Harry Potter World in Florida for their Honeymoon... Karl is awesome!!

The end.